


Anatomy of a Butterfly

by acidquill



Series: this lion-hearted girl [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Awkwardness, F/F, First Kiss, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-17
Updated: 2013-01-17
Packaged: 2017-11-25 19:19:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/642159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acidquill/pseuds/acidquill
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Lavender asks, she says yes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Anatomy of a Butterfly

**Author's Note:**

> set 4th year. for my fanfic100 table - prompt 15: blue. originally posted Oct 2004 (TheSilverSnitch), Dec 2004 (personal lj).

It’s Thursday. Nail-painting day. The color is 'Cornish Pixie Blue.'  
  
No one will see the color outside the girls’ dorms though. McGonagall would pitch a fit if she saw even the hint of a perfectly painted fingernail. So Lavender and Parvati paint their toes instead. It’s their little secret tucked away under shoes and socks. Something to giggle about in the middle of History of Magic.  
  
And it’s something the two of them do together, when everyone else is sleeping. There’s something special about sitting in front of the fire at two in the morning. It would almost be magical, except that would be a horrible cliché. But Thursdays are Thursdays and Lavender has always had a thing for cliches.

 

The girls aren’t quite sure when it started – whether it was that first day on the train, or later when they crossed the lake in the same boat – but ‘me’ and ‘I’ became ‘we’ and ‘us.’ Over the past four years Lavender and Parvati became a unit. Best friends. Inseparable. Really doesn’t matter about the exact word.  
  
Parvati doesn’t miss Padma at all now, not like those earliest nights in first year. Not with Lavender sleeping in the bed right next to hers.  
  
Lavender doesn’t have any brothers or sisters. She doesn’t mind; Parvati’s better.

 

Lavender is staring at Parvati, who’s twisting a strand of hair round and round a finger. Parvati’s hair glows and Lavender wants to reach out and touch it. The fire cracks loudly and Lavender jumps. She blushes when Parvati looks up at her. She really shouldn’t be so jumpy, not with Parvati’s hand warm against her foot.  
  
Parvati’s eyes are brown, mud coloured. Lavender feels certain she should be comparing them to something nicer. Like chocolate or mahogany or _something_. Especially since she wants to…maybe Parvati would say no…maybe Parvati wouldn’t want to be her friend anymore… Lavender’s never been overly brave; she’s never had to be. But she was put into Gryffindor and that has to count for something. She bites her lip –  
  
“Can I kiss you?”

 

Parvati is thinking of Cornish Pixies. Second year and Lockhart’s class. She’s remembering timetables with little hearts around all the DADA lessons. No one liked Harry that year – everyone thought he was going around setting a monster on people. Lavender was scared. Parvati wasn’t.  
  
So when Lavender asks, she says yes.

 

Lavender’s never kissed anyone except her parents. And kissing her best friend doesn’t have anything in common with her mum and dad at all.  
  
Parvati tastes of citrus, biting and bitter and just a little sweet. She shouldn’t be surprised; Parvati has about twenty lip glosses, all orange. Lavender hates oranges.

 

Parvati has kissed a boy before. Three to be exact. Funny that she’s never told Lavender; she certainly won’t tell her now.  
  
Lavender tastes just like the mint flavoured toothpaste that is standard issue in the dormitory bathroom. Parvati hates that toothpaste; she always brings her own. She doesn’t think she’ll ever get the taste out of her mouth.

 

Lavender can’t look Parvati in the eye, but that’s okay because if she could Parvati wouldn’t be looking at her anyway. They both watch 'Cornish Pixie Blue' spread in a glittering puddle on the rug. The bottle got knocked over when Parvati pulled away.  
  
Neither of them is sure who’s first, but they both reach for the bottle at the same time and their fingers touch.

 

Lavender sighs.  
  
She should’ve just kept her mouth shut. This is her fault, _all her fault_. Parvati’s going to hate her. Ask for a bed change to get away from her. There won’t be any more Thursdays.

She bites her lip hard and doesn't wince when it bleeds, _don’t cry don’t cry don’t cry you baby!_

 

Parvati will never admit it but for a minute she’s absolutely terrified. She’s never thought there would be something she’d hate about Lavender. And what if everything changes? She should have pretended not to hear the question. Then she thinks _this is stupid_. After all it’s _Lavender_. So she gets up off the floor and brushes off her pajamas. She sticks out her hand and helps Lavender up too.  
  
Tomorrow they’ll go to classes and giggle in the middle of History of Magic. It might be a little forced at first, but Lavender and Parvati are a unit. Inseparable. Being best friends is better anyway.


End file.
